San Sebastian 1911

San Sebastián gathered nearly every leading master of the age for one of the first true elite invitationals — and it was won, at the first attempt, by a 22-year-old Cuban. José Raúl Capablanca's victory ahead of Rubinstein, Vidmar, Marshall and Tarrasch announced a new force in world chess and began the career that would carry him to the World Championship.

◇An elite by design

The event was organised by the German master Jacques Mieses and financed by the Cuban diplomat Manuel Márquez Sterling. Mieses conceived it as a gathering of the strongest players only, admitting masters with a proven record of international results, and set terms that would become a template for later elite tournaments: travel expenses plus board and lodging for every participant, and a guaranteed minimum honorarium per point for those who finished out of the prizes.

The result was one of the deepest fields yet assembled — fifteen of the world's best, missing only reigning World Champion Emanuel Lasker: Rubinstein, Vidmar, Marshall, Tarrasch, Schlechter, Nimzowitsch, Bernstein, Spielmann, Teichmann, Janowski, Maróczy, Duras, Burn and Leonhardt, joined by the Cuban newcomer.

◇The unwelcome debutant

Capablanca's only major international credential was his 1909 match win over Marshall, and by a much-repeated story Ossip Bernstein and Aron Nimzowitsch objected to admitting so unproven a newcomer — an account later historians treat with caution, since firm evidence for the protest is thin. Whatever was said, Capablanca answered it emphatically at the board.

In the very first round he beat Bernstein, and the game won the tournament's 500-franc brilliancy prize, donated by Baron Rothschild. It was the first sign of a player whose clear classical style would soon set the standard for the whole chess world.

“Raúl Capablanca won the tournament, and with this victory his unique career began, which led him to the top of the chess world and to winning the World Championship.”

◇Half a point clear

Capablanca finished on 9½ from 14 games, a half-point ahead of Akiba Rubinstein and Milan Vidmar, who shared second on 9, with Marshall fourth on 8½. Rubinstein had come in a favourite and finished undefeated — indeed he was the only man to beat Capablanca — but he drew too often and fell just short.

The victory made Capablanca an instant contender for Lasker's crown and the sensation of the chess world; it would be another decade before he took the title outright, but San Sebastián is where the legend began.